


Artful Adevnturers: Return of Dark Matter, a Kirby 64 fic

by CompleteLaytonTrash



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Adeleine and Ribbon have sibling energy at times, Ado being Adeleines mother., Chapter 4 is angsty but good, Fluff and Angst, Gen, She makes appearances through memories and flashbacks, They Are Just Best Friends, also if anyone thinks this is shipping I will break your ankles and feed them to the crows, for all intents and purposes: Ado and Adeleine are different characters but are family, more tags might be added over time, theres some family dynamics in here too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CompleteLaytonTrash/pseuds/CompleteLaytonTrash
Summary: Adeleine and Ribbon are living peacefully in Cloudy Park when they get an ominous letter from Queen Ripple, with a few hastily written words upon it:HelpDark Matter02Believing that Ripple Star and the queen could be in grave danger, the two set out to help!
Kudos: 5





	1. A Peaceful Morning in Cloudy Park

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo!
> 
> Welcome to my fic!
> 
> If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know I’ve written quite a few fanfics in the past! This one is gonna be different to my usual fics, as it’s going to have a set plot rather than being in the style of oneshots!
> 
> Here’s a quick key for text styles:  
> Regular: regular  
> Italics: thoughts or a memory/flashback  
> Bolded: The Bismuth Stargazer talking
> 
> Chapters will update whenever I finish them, so please be patient!

Artful Adventurers: Return of Dark Matter, a Kirby 64 fic

Chapter 1: A Peaceful Morning in Cloudy Park

Dreamland, a kingdom famous for its unique kind of peace and quiet. While this peace often attracted troublesome beings, the trouble didn’t last very long. The land was full of magic, from the Fountain of Dreams to the Rainbow Sword, all made to protect the land and its people.

Tucked away on the western point of Dreamland was a small floating landmass in the sky. This place is known as Cloudy Park, a refuge within the sky. Clouds surround the landmass and keep it afloat, hiding it from outside forces. It’s been rumored to be one of the safest places in Dreamland, as it’s a challenge to get to the general location, let alone actually infiltrate its defenses. An unseen magic force prevented malicious beings from entering, going as far as to warp the entire landmass to another location until the original location was safe. Only twice did dark forces every enter Cloudy Park, and they were swiftly dealt with, saving the peaceful sanctuary in the sky. As of now, the land remains unmoved from its current location; hidden within the steep mountain ranges scattered around the western point.

Within Cloudy Park resides a small town, quiet in the early hours of the morning. However, one house, lying on the outskirts of the town, just outside the nearby forest, was bustling to life...

~~~{+}~~~

Morning sunlight poured through the window, birds chirped in the trees, and the plants within the home began to stir. A soft groan resonated in the room a girl pulled the covers over her face to block the sunlight. She rolled over, nestling deeper into the warm blankets, drifting back into slumber. On the other side of the room, a little fairy emerged from the wall closet, stretching as she walked into the room. She looked over to the bed at the opposite side of the room, then looked to the clock on the wall.

_7:00. She’s usually up by now. She probably stayed up all night working again..._

The fairy gave a few short flaps of her wings to warm them up, a sparkly, almost translucent dust sprinkling off of them. She jogged over to the bed, carefully pulling the covers back, only to have them forcefully yanked out of her hands, another groan coming from the girl buried underneath the blankets. The fairy pouted, lifting off the ground and landing on the nightstand, tapping the girl on the head.

“Hey! Wake up!”

Another groan, louder this time.

“C’moooooon!! Wake uuuuuup!”

Incoherent mumbling followed by a hand swatting at the general area of the nightstand, completely missing the fairy.

“5 more minutes...”

The fairy furrowed her brows, giving a harder tap to the girls head.

“Don’t make me pull the covers.”

“Just... let me sleep... a little longer...”

The girl yawned, tucking the covers over her head. The fairy stamped her foot and lifted off the nightstand, grabbing ahold of the covers and yanking them off the girl. The girl held up a hand to block out the sunlight, slowly opening her violet-colored eyes. She looked over to the fairy, who had sat back down on the nightstand.

“Why’d your have to do that...?”

The fairy crossed her arms, gesturing to the alarm clock next to her.

“You’re usually up by now! We’ve got things to do, and I can’t have you sleeping in ‘till 10:00 every day!”

The girl squinted, reading the time on the clock beside the fairy, then rubbed her eyes.

“It’s only 7:00. You could’ve let me sleep a little longer and it wouldn’t have hurt anything.”

The fairy stood up, pushing a stray piece of hair out of her face.

“You stayed up late painting last night, didn’t you.”

The girl sheepishly grumbled to herself, ruffling up her bed head of a hairdo.

“...No...”

The fairy raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“...Maybe...”

Her expression shifted, more suspicion crossing her face.

“...Ok, maybe a little.”

“How late were you up until, exactly?”

The girl stared at the fairy blankly, trying to recall the time from the previous night.

“Uh... 1:35...? I think?”

“Addie!”

“What?! I was nearly done with a big painting! I wanted to get it done!”

The fairy groaned, her face falling into her hands.

“You can’t be staying up that late! You’ve already got a wacky sleep schedule! You don’t need it to get worse!”

The girl grumbled, sitting up.

“I know, I know, it’s a problem.”

She stretched, yawning.

“I’ll worry about that later. How about we go eat breakfast?”

The fairy smiled, her wings fluttering happily.

“Lead the way, Addie!”

The girl climbed out of bed, ruffling her hair up to try and get it to untangle. She walked to the door to her bedroom, slowly pushing it open and walking down the hall, her fairy friend hovering close behind. She made her way to the narrow staircase leading to the ground floor, carefully making her way down. She turned and walked down the entrance hallway, pushing the door to the painting room open. The floor was covered with splotches of paint and dirty paintbrushes, surrounding a large canvas propped up on a wooden easel. Painted upon the canvas was a view of Nutty Noon at sunset. The fairy looked at it, watching as it started to move upon her gaze reaching it, the clouds drifting past, the buildings swaying slightly in the invisible breeze.

“I forgot how amazing your larger paintings look, Addie!”

The girl sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.

“Aw shucks, Ribbon, you’re too kind.”

The fairy smiled, flying onto her artist friends shoulder.

“Really! I can’t figure out how you do it!”

Her gaze drifted down to the bottom of the painting, the corner marked with a handwritten signature. Lavender colored paint made up the lines of the signature, spelling out “Adeleine” with a heart at the end.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure how I do it either!”

Adeleine laughed, pushing open the door to the kitchen. With another turn, she opened the fridge, grabbing leftover cinnamon rolls from yesterday. She still found it quite amazing how quickly Popstar had adapted to using slightly better technology. After the Robobot invasion, Susie, who had apparently helped Kirby fight the invading forces, despite being on the enemy side, designed eco-friendly technology for everyone on Popstar to use. The technology made its way to Cloudy Park and, with the help of the people living there, was set up in Adeleines home. Everything had been made using what was left of the ship Susie came to Popstar in, so nothing was taken from Popstar itself. Adeleine appreciated it, having only used basic technology before, much of which barely worked to begin with. She put the rolls in the little microwave she had and set it to 2 minutes, walking over to the sink to grab the pitcher she used to water the plants. Ribbon landed next to her, watching as Adeleine filled up the pitcher and walked to the living room, looking for any plants who seemed to need a drink. Almost immediately, the clove and grapevine perked up, leaning forwards in their pots. Adeleine rolled her eyes and poured some of the water into the two plants pots, gaining a few affectionate bumps from the two. One by one, more plants perked up. Adeleine casually gave each one a drink, not even phased by how each plant moved with more sentience than a normal plant would. She’d gotten used to the routine. Ribbon had brought all but one of those plants into their home, despite some of Adeleines requests to keep them out. While they were a nice addition to the household, some of them really weren’t necessary, like the grapevine. From what she’d learned, it didn’t do much more than cuddle anyone who got close enough, and the grapes it produced were more trouble than they were worth. She appreciated the odd company- living alone for so long made her stop taking things like that for granted- but it was still strange to keep such a plant in their home.

She finished the morning watering and walked back to the kitchen, the microwave beeping to signal it was finished. Ribbon sat on a stack of pillows on one of the chairs surrounding their small table. Adeleine leisurely took the cinnamon rolls out and set them on the table, grabbing plates for the two of them. Ribbon flew from her seat, snatching 2 of the rolls before Adeleine even had a chance to comprehend what happened.

“You sure you’re gonna be able to eat those?”

Adeleine casually asked, placing a cinnamon roll on her plate.

“Mhmm!”

Ribbon took a bite, her wings fluttering in joy, slightly lifting her off her seat. Adeleine rolled her eyes, slowly eating her cinnamon roll, until she heard what sounded like a wet thud. She whipped around only to find their Azolla plant slowly trying to crawl across the floor. She hastily stood up and ran over, picking up the wet plant and set it back in its pot.

“We need to put a dome or something over this one. This is the third time this week it’s tried to escape.”

Ribbon pouted, leaning to one side to see the plant.

“It just needs more pots. The Lotus keeps refusing to share.”

“You’re the one in charge of these things, how come you can’t make them share?”

“Because I don’t speak plant, Addie.”

The two girls giggled at the statement. Adeleine gently patted the Azolla and rinsed her hands off, sitting back down.

“Maybe you should learn how to! It would be quite helpful, you know.”

“I bet it wouldn’t do anything more than confuse things.”

“Sauter aux conclusions déjà? Vous n'y avez même pas pensé!”

Adeleine furrowed her brow, leaning over the table.

“Addie, you know for a fact that learning how to speak plant would be more confusing than learning Ancient Ripplarian!”

“C'est juste.”

Adeleine clicked her tongue, taking another bite of her cinnamon roll. She’d nearly forgotten how unbelievably difficult Ribbons native tongue was to learn. While it wasn’t impossible, the language was significantly more difficult than anything Adeleine had learned before. Only the fairies of Ripple Star could fluently speak it, with few outside the species being able to speak it as well. While Adeleine herself couldn’t speak the language, she could translate it, which was helpful when it came to deciphering Ripple Stars many old textbooks.

“Speaking of Ripple Star, isn’t our meeting with the queen supposed to happen soon?”

Ribbon perked up, nodding.

“Yeah, now that I think about it, it is!”

“Next week, right?”

“I think so!”

Adeleine gave a small nod, looking over at the calendar plastered to the fridge. The next week had a circle around one of the days.

_That’s gotta be the day. I’ll have to start packing for the trip..._

“You finished eating?”

She looked over at Ribbon, who had somehow scarfed both cinnamon rolls down in record time.

“Yep! Let’s go!”

The two got up and set their plates in the sink, walking back upstairs and to the tiny hall bathroom. Adeleine flicked the lights on, squinting as light beamed into her face. Within minutes, the two had fixed their appearances, changing into their usual clothes and fixing their hair. They walked back to their rooms to change, making sure to be quick. Ribbon walked out of the closet her room was in and flew over to Adeleine, who was trying to cram her bangs into her beret.

“I still find it weird that you’ve got bangs.”

“Why is it weird?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been so used to you having a weird hairline.”

“Oh, you mean the one I had when I was 7? Yeah, that was a failed self-haircut.”

Ribbon raised an eyebrow.

“It was?”

“Yep. I used some old scissors and I wasn’t tall enough to reach the mirror so I could barely see what I was doing and I chopped my existing bangs off by accident.”

Ribbon covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter.

“Why did you try to cut it yourself?!”

“Because the people who took care of me wanted to give me a bowl cut and I was so against the idea that I decided to prove to them that I was self sufficient enough to cut my own hair.”

“And how old were you when you did that??”

“5, I believe.”

“Addie!!”

Ribbon burst into laughter, tumbling off Adeleines bed. Adeleine pulled the remainder of her bangs up and into her beret, setting it on her head.

“I know, it’s hilarious.”

There was a hint of sarcasm to her voice. She chuckled at her fairy friend, who found the idea of 5 year old Adeleine chopping her bangs off by total accident far more hilarious that it actually was. She didn’t mind, or at least, she only slightly minded. Granted, a lot of her experiences as a very young child were comical. She couldn’t blame Ribbon for finding them funny.

“Oh heavens, I’m sorry for laughing, it’s just-“

The fairy stifled another round of laughter.

“The thought of you trying to chop your bangs off just to prove that you were self sufficient at age 5 is too funny to me.”

Adeleine chuckled, shaking her head.

“I know. Looking back on it, I was a mess.”

The fairy stood up, letting out a sigh.

“Ok, I’m sorry for laughing at you-“

“Don’t apologize! I think it’s funny, too!”

“Ok then, I’m only partially sorry for laughing at you. We should get going. You had a commission you needed to work on today, right?”

“Mhmm. They want a painting of the forest. Easy enough.”

The fairy fluttered over to a backpack near the bed, lifting it up and handing it to Adeleine. She put it on and Ribbon flew into the backpack, pushing the fabric that kept it closed off so she could peek out. Adeleine grabbed her paintbrush and a bag of her best paints before running downstairs and out the door, hastily stopping when she saw the little flag on the mailbox was pointed up.

“That’s weird, we aren’t supposed to get mail on Sundays...”

“Maybe it was from yesterday?”

“It couldn’t be! I checked it yesterday...”

She opened it up and inside was a single red envelope, sealed with a wax stamp displaying the signature crystal from Ripple Star; the same mark the queen puts on every letter she sends out.

“Hey, Ribbon? I think it’s from the queen...”

Ribbon flew out of the backpack, hovering next to Adeleine. Both had a concerned look on their faces. The queen didn’t send a letter to them if she knew it would arrive on a Sunday, unless it was an emergency. Adeleine hastily opened it, the wax seal splitting apart as it was opened. Inside was a tattered piece of paper, damaged and torn in some places. Cautiously, the artist unfolded the paper, opening up the letter itself. The front of the paper had black stains on it, a few red drops scattered around said stains.

_Is... is that... blood...? N-no... it couldn’t be..._

The handwriting was barely legible, hastily scribbled onto the page in a way that screamed desperation. Adeleine looked the letter over, trying to make out whatever she could.

——————————————

He l p

D ar kM at t e r

02

—————————————

Her hands shook with fear as she looked over at Ribbon, who looked like she was going to cry.

“Addie-“

“Grab your things, we’re leaving for Ripple Star.”

“W-wait, you’re serious?!”

“Dead serious, Ribbon. The Dark Matter might want the crystal again, and, if not that, then the entire planet. We need to hurry!”

She ran back inside, hastily putting together supplies. Thankfully, most of her usual supplies were already packed. She kept a backup supply of things ready for emergency trips like this, just in case. The trek to Ripple Star would be a long one, especially since they didn’t have the luxury of using the crystal to warp there. Ribbon flew past the artist, grabbing her own bags. Adeleine could see how distraught she was, a pang of guilt stabbing her chest when she saw tiny tears trickling down the fairy’s cheeks. She tried to push it out of her mind as she crammed more of her emergency trip food into her bag. The second she had everything put together, she ran over to Ribbon to help her out.

“A-Addie, you don’t need to help me, I got it.”

“I’m gonna help you regardless.”

She grabbed whatever the fairy needed and brought it to her. The bags Ribbon used were far smaller and Adeleine let her pack her things, as Adeleine herself could risk ripping it from trying to help. Once Ribbon was all packed, Adeleine ran to the front door, her fairy friend following close behind, grabbed a lanyard with a multitude of things attached to it, and sped out the door, running straight towards to Cloudy Park Aircraft Station.

~~~{+}~~~

Adeleine stumbled into the main atrium of the station, looking around for her ship. She quickly spotted it and started a sprint towards it when she was promptly stopped by a bird-like figure.

“Excuse me, young lady, where do you think you’re going?!”

Adeleine looked up to meet the figures eyes. He was tall, sporting a bright yellow beak with what looked like a white feathered beard that contrasted his brown, feathered body. He wore a pilots hat and a white pilots uniform. He glared down at her, leaning down to meet her gaze.

“I’m headed to Ripple Star, sir. It’s urgent a-“

“And what makes you think I’d allow such?! You’re surely too young to operate even a commercial level aircraft!”

Adeleine furrowed her brows, frustration rising.

“How old even are you, anyway?!”

“16, sir. I have a-“

“16?! No can do! Unless you’ve got some form of an escort, you can’t be-“

“VUL! GIVE THE KID A BREAK ALREADY, WILL YA?!”

The two turned to see a waddle dee wearing a sailor hat come storming over.

“She’s clearly got business here, and you shouting at her over her apparently not being old enough is mean! Go bother somebody else!”

The bird sneered down at the waddle dee, crossing his wings. He scoffed at the artist before turning around and strutting off angrily. The waddle dee waited until the bird had walked away to finally speak to her.

“I’m so sorry, miss! Captain Vul tends to have a bit of a temper.”

“So that’s his name...”

“Mhmm! I’m Sailor Dee! I’m one of the captains on the Halberd! It’s very nice to meet you!”

“I-it’s nice time meet you, too! I’m Adeleine. Can I please pass so I can get to my ship? I have urgent business on Ripple Star.”

The waddle dee perked up, extending a hand.

“Sure thing! Can I see your license really quick just to make sure you’re good to go?”

Adeleine nodded, kneeling down and handing the waddle dee her lanyard with her license on it. The waddle dee quickly looked it over, the handed it back, giving a bouncy salute.

“You’re all set, miss Adeleine! Have a safe trip!”

Adeleine stood back up, giving a small smile to the waddle dee before rushing off towards her ship. She gripped her lanyard, quickly sprinting up to the door upon the ship and unlocking it, pushing it open and peeking inside. She carefully took her backpack off and set it down out of view to anyone standing close by.

“Coast is clear, Ribbon. You can come out.”

The fairy popped her head out of the backpack, looking around before flying up to her.

“I still don’t understand why they won’t let me fly with you unless you display some huge thing of paperwork.”

“It’s because I’m not old enough to be an escort. I only have a solo license, meaning that, if I’m to take anybody with me, either they need a license or need to be old enough to be considered an independent passenger, someone who doesn’t need an escort. Since we’re the same age, I can’t be an escort for you, and neither of us are old enough to be independent passengers.”

Ribbon hummed in response. She closed the door and helped Adeleine drop their supplies off in the storage compartment their ship had. Once everything was put away, they sped through the ship, running into the cockpit and switching the lights on.

“Ready to go?”

“As ready as I can be. Start ‘er up!”

Ribbon nodded and pulled a huge lever down. In an instant, the crystalline outer coating on the ship began to sparkle, the engines roaring to life. The ship rumbled as it lifted off the ground. A mechanical voice came over the tiny speakers spread throughout the ship.

**“All systems are ready. Prepare for takeoff.”**

Adeleine felt the ship begin to lift up higher and higher, turning as it began to set a course for their destination.

**“Setting a direct course for: Ripple Star. Please standby.”**

The ship pointed towards the sky, the wings on it opening elegantly. The engines flared, light gleaming off the ship.

**“Course set. Takeoff in 3... 2... 1...”**

The ship lurched forwards, speeding into the sky. Adeleine looked over at Ribbon, who stared off into the sky as the ship continued to fly into the stars. Her expression shifted, a determined look spreading onto her face. She turned her attention back to the sky in front of her, eyes narrowing.

_Don’t worry, your majesty! We’ll be there soon!_


	2. Sunburnt Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After leaving to help Ripple Star, Adeleine and Ribbon come across a problem: their ship doesn’t have enough fuel to get them past Rock Star!
> 
> The two stop to refill and make a change of plans. Adeleine remembers some of her past, and maybe gets a little hurt along the way...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!!
> 
> Chapter 2 is finally ready to go!! Hopefully, you all enjoy it!

Artful Adventurers: Return of Dark Matter, a Kirby 64 fic

Chapter 2: Sunburnt Memories

Adeleine sat back against the couch, sketching out a drawing of the Rainbow Islands. Her memory of the place was fuzzy, considering she was only 4 years old when she had last been there. The ship lurched, a faint, constant beeping sounding from the cockpit of the ship. She shot up from her seat, running to the control panels to see what had happened. A small light flashed next one of the panels: an empty fuel can. Adeleine let out a groan as she heard the mechanical voice of the ship sound out over the speakers.

** “Less than 10% fuel remaining. Rerouting course...” **

Ribbon came fluttering in, a concerned look on her face.

“What’s happening?”

Adeleine looked at the fairy with an exhausted sigh.

“Low fuel...”

Ribbons expression fell, a groan escaping her as she flew over to the control panels, looking at the light that indicated low fuel.

“Crap, we should’ve checked before we left... Can we make it to Aqua Star with what we’ve got left?”

“No. There’s less than 10% in the tanks. We’re gonna have to stop on Rock Star.”

It was a stop neither of them wanted to make. They both wanted to try and make it as close to Ripple Star as they could before they made any stops, but being stranded in space with no fuel would be far worse than being stuck waiting for the ship to refill the fuel tanks. Reluctantly, Adeleine took ahold of the ships controls, steering it towards Rock Star.

** “Course rerouted. Making emergency stop on Rock Star.” **

The ship dipped in altitude, slowly descending towards the broken planet. The landscape came into view; a barren wasteland of sand and cacti, the sun beating down against the hot desert sand. Slowly, the ship made its landing, carefully turning the engines off as to not kick up sand upon landing. Steam puffed out briefly and the wings opened up to their full wingspan, small panels unfolding to reveal solar panels.

** “Initiating eco-fuel recovery. Estimated time: 24 hours.” **

“24 HOURS?!”

The two exclaimed, exchanging shocked looks.

“How long do we have to wait to get enough fuel to get us to Aqua Star?”

Adeleine tapped the keys on the control panel, hoping for an answer.

** “Approximately 15% fuel is required to fly to Aqua Star. Estimated time: 3 hours.” **

“That’ll work.”

Ribbon looked over at Adeleine, utterly shocked by her sudden change in mood.

“Addie, we can’t do either of those! What if the queens in danger?! What if-“

“Ribbon, either we have to wait a full day to get enough fuel to make a straight flight to Ripple Star or we wait and just hop planets with what we have. Making the straight flight will take way longer, considering that we’ll have to avoid the asteroid field close by. If we hop planets, we can save time. Plus, if something happens to the ship, we’ll be on solid ground and can try and repair it.”

Ribbon thought about it for a moment before sighing in defeat. Adeleine was right. Waiting an entire day would take time off of their mission to get to the queen. Hopping planets, while it seemed a little excessive, would take far less time in the long run.

“I suppose you’re right.”

Adeleine grabbed her backpack, tucking a paintbrush behind her ear.

“In the meantime, why don’t we go and explore for a little while? I’m sure there’s something interesting around here.”

Ribbon fluttered over to her bag of things, swinging it over her shoulder.

“Aw, heck, why not! Lead the way, Addie!”

The two ran to the door, stepping outside, with Adeleine experiencing almost immediate regret. The sun was hotter than usual, the sand was blinding from the suns rays, and the heat was almost unbearable. She let out a sharp sigh, rolling her shoulders back, and stepped onto the sand. She could feel the heat radiating off it with each step she took, making note to not trip and fall for fear she’d get scorched just by touching the sand. Ribbon followed close behind, her wings creating the tiniest of breezes behind her with each consecutive flap. Adeleine looked around, her gaze settling on a small group of ruins not far from the ship.

“There’s some ruins over there. Let’s check those out first!”

Ribbon nodded and fluttered after her artist friend, following her as the two made a beeline for the ruins.

~~~{+}~~~

The sun beat down on the two girls. Adeleine had pulled her beret off her head, fanning her face with it. Her smock had been taken off, leaving her in a small tank top that was a little too big for her body, the back of the neck being open enough to expose a majority of her back. Ribbon had merely rolled up her sleeves, trying her best to keep her wings cool, and clearly failing. They’d changed color from being too hot, fading from a pale pink to a sickening red, and her normally rosy cheeks were that one shade of blue that made Adeleine worry.

“Hey, Ribbon, are you ok?”

The fairy looked over at her artist friend, sweat dripping down her face.

“Yeah.... just a little hot...”

Adeleine motioned for her to come and sit. She was facing away from the sun, and her shadow would be enough to help shade the poor fairy. Ribbon stood up and walked over, sitting in Adeleines lap, a wave of relief hitting her.

“Thanks, Addie...”

“Don’t thank me for it! It’s what friends do!”

Adeleine gave her a small smile, clearly uncomfortable from the heat, but tanking it out for her friend. Her face was red from sitting in the sun for over an hour, her bangs sticking to her forehead despite her efforts to pull them back. She let out a sigh, staring off into the distance, her gaze wandering to the distant spot their ship sat, still refilling its fuel tanks. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as an old memory resurfaced.

~~~{+}~~~

_ It was a cloudy day in Cloudy Park. In the nearby forest stood Ado, painting the landscape before her. She looked over at the landscape, carefully dipping her brush into her palette and making another precise stroke on her canvas. She hummed a familiar tune, a soft smile on her face. She’d taken the day off and walked with her daughter into the nearby forest. She wanted to try and paint the landscape while her daughter played close by, although she hadn’t noticed that her daughter had run off, no longer in sight... _

_ ~~~{+}~~~ _

_ Adeleine carefully peeked around the bushes she stood behind, watching a family of Nruffs snack on berries. They grunted and huffed every second or so, like they were talking to each other. She stood on her tiptoes, trying to see the group a little better. _

_ “Soft.... maybeeeeee... friends?” _

_ She whispered to herself, eyes narrowing as she leaned in a little closer. She took a step and the Nruffs perked up, their noses twitching as they sniffed the air. She froze, eyes widening as the Nruffs seemed to pick up on her presence. The looked over in her direction, freezing in place. They stared at each other, both seemingly afraid of the other. Suddenly, the Nruffs squealed in fear, scattering into the forest away from Adeleine. She tilted her head, her oversized beret flopping sideways. _

_ “Why... run?” _

_ She heard something click behind her, hot air hitting her back. She perked up, fixing her beret and slowly began to turn around, her eyes widening as she saw a gaping, toothy maw coming straight at her. Tears started to well up in her eyes out of fear, a scream escaping her mouth as the creature drew near... _

_ ~~~{+}~~~ _

_ “HEEEELLLPPP!!!!!!!” _

_ Ado snapped out of her focus, her attention immediately turning to the scream. She gripped her paintbrush, looking for the source of the sound. Out of nowhere, a young girl wearing an oversized teal green smock and red beret came barreling out of the bushes. Just as the girl came running out of the foliage, a huge Pacto came stampeding behind her, it’s maw snapping at the girl as she ran. Ado leapt off the stump she was standing on, dashing towards the girl and the pursuing Pacto. She jumped at it, wildly swinging her paintbrush, slashing and hacking at the Pacto. Paint slathered the beast with each stroke, leaving colorful streaks on its body. She delivered one final strike, sending it tumbling away from the girl. The Pacto righted itself, shaking off some of the paint as it looked over to Ado, suddenly freezing in fear. Ado stood in front of the child, who was getting up and starting to run back to the stump Ado was previously on, her expression twisted to that of pure, unbridled rage. She snarled, her grip on her paintbrush turning her knuckles white. The Pacto started backing up before it bolted, disappearing into the forest without a second thought. Ado made sure it had completely disappeared before turning back to the girl, all of her anger vanishing the moment she laid eyes on her. Motherly instinct kicked in as she ran to the girl, kneeling down by her. _

_ “Adeleine, are you ok?!” _

_ Adeleine lifted her head, her face red from crying. She broke down into louder sobs as she threw herself into her mothers arms. Ado quickly adjusted her position, pulling her daughter closer as she rubbed circles on her back. _

_ “Shh, shh, it’s ok sweetie. The Pacto’s gone now. You’re safe.” _

_ Adeleine continued to sob, each cry sending another pang of guilt through Ado. She squeezed Adeleine, hoping it would calm the sobbing child down. The sobs slowly died down, leaving Adeleine curled up in Ados embrace. She lifted her head off her mother’s shoulder, looking up at her. _

_ “You’re not hurt, are you?” _

_ Adeleine shook her head, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. She sniffled, eyes still puffy from crying. She had sticks and leaves in her hair, some wound in more than others, and a few small red marks from where branches smacked her in the face during her reckless sprint to safety. Ado carefully plucked the leaves and sticks out of her daughters hair, tossing them aside and straightening out any scraggly pieces that were ruffled from the foliage. _

_ “How did you even wind up encountering one of those? I made sure the area around me was safe!” _

_ Adeleine looked away, knowing she was about to get scolded for her recklessness. _

_ “Did you go exploring where you shouldn’t have?” _

_ She didn’t answer. _

_ “Adeleine, answer me. Did you go farther than you should’ve or not.” _

_ “I did...” _

_ Ado let out a frustrated sigh, composing herself. _

_ “Adeleine, I’ve told you not to stray too far from me. Cloudy Park is safe, but only if you know where not to go. Neither of us are built for combat, and you’re not old enough to use a weapon. I can’t always be there to protect you, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Promise me you’ll stay closer to me next time?” _

_ “I promise, mommy!!” _

_ Ado smiled, lifting Adeleine up and carrying her to the stump she was painting on. _

_ “Since you’re here, would you like to paint with me?” _

_ Adeleines eyes lit up, excitement washing over her formerly sorrow expression. _

_ “Yeah!!!” _

_ Ado giggled, setting Adeleine down and grabbing a smaller stand for a canvas, handing Adeleine a series of small paintbrushes she could use. _

_ “Give me one moment, I’ll have a canvas ready for you in no time!” _

~~~{+}~~~

Adeleine opened her eyes, her vision adjusting to the harsh sunlight beaming into her eyes. She held a hand up, silently regretting coming all the way out here. The ruins hadn’t had much in them besides a few old pieces of pottery and symbols Adeleine didn’t understand. They’d both stopped for this break and both seemed ready to head back to the ship. Ribbon got up, flapping her now pale pink wings to make sure they were ok. Adeleine slowly followed, pushing herself to her feet, grabbing her smock and throwing it over her shoulder. The impact from the smock hurt, oddly enough. She winced a little, shaking off the pain as just being a little tense. She grabbed her bag and started the long walk back to the ship, Ribbon fluttering next to her. Slowly, the ship came closer into view, until finally, the two managed to trek through the doorway, breathing a massive sigh of relief as the cold air inside the ship hit them.

“Ahhh, this is much better... What about you A-“

Ribbon stopped short, looking at Adeleine in shock.

“Addie!!! Y-your face!!! A-a-and your arms!!”

Adeleine looked down at her arms, noticing how red they were. She carefully touched them, slightly wincing.

_Sunburn... great..._

Ribbon carefully looked Adeleine over, turning her attention to the horrible sunburn all along her neck and upper back. Her arms, along with her chest and face, were also horribly sunburnt. She grimaced, lightly touching part of Adeleines sunburnt back.

“Good lord... Addie, these are bad... like, REALLY bad...”

Adeleine looked away, able to feel the heat radiating off the burns.

“Sorry...”

“I don’t think we have any aloe vera with us...”

“We don’t. I didn’t think we’d need to pack it.”

Ribbon reached into one of her bags, pulling out a small ice blue bag tied shut with a periwinkle bow.

“Go sit down. I’ll see if I can help.”

Adeleine reluctantly walked over to the couch, flopping onto it, immediately wincing as her back made contact with the cushions. She sat up taking her beret off again to let her hair cool off. Ribbon flew over, opening up the bag in her hand. She reached in and grabbed a handful of ice blue fairy dust, sprinkling it over any sunburnt parts of Adeleines body, excluding her face. The dust began to crystallize, turning into very thin sheets of ice that cooled the sunburns upon contact. She carefully patted it onto Adeleines face, taking great care to avoid her eyes and mouth. The dust crystallized again, providing immediate relief. Adeleine relaxed, relief washing over her as the pain and heat of the sunburns vanished.

“It’s a temporary fix. It’ll at least help the worst of the burns, but I can’t guarantee that this’ll fix them completely. You’ll probably still be sore from these...”

Adeleine nodded, quietly grumbling about how she hated herself for getting this bad of sunburns.

“Thank you...”

Ribbon nodded in response, her attention snapping to one of the speakers on the ceiling.

**“Fuel refilled. Ready for takeoff. Please standby.”**

Adeleine perked up, slowly getting up and making her way to the cockpit. Ribbon followed close behind, keeping a close eye on her artist friend. The ship rumbled, the engines flaring to life once more.

**“Beginning flight to Aqua Star. Estimated time: 5 hours.”**

The ship lifted off the ground, the wings opening and shifting to adjust to it flying. It soared into the sky, leaving Rock Star and entering space, its course directed straight towards Aqua Star. Adeleine, upon seeing the ship had entered space, left the cockpit, going back to the couch and laying down, grabbing her sketchbook. Ribbon followed her, sitting down on the armrest behind her. Adeleine let out a sigh, picking up her pencil and resuming her work.

_One planet down, 3 to go..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed chapter 2! Chapter 3 will take follow the artful adventurers landing on Aqua Star!
> 
> Until then, see you soon!!!


	3. Tidepools of Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their stop on Rock Star, the duo make another stop on Aqua Star!
> 
> Adeleine takes a break near some tidepools while Ribbon explores, leaving Adeleine alone in her thoughts...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> It’s been a while, and that’s partially due to minor writing block and partially due to bouncing around fandoms for a bit, but I’m back with a new chapter! I hope you enjoy!

Artful Adventurers: Return of Dark Matter, a Kirby 64 fic

Chapter 3: Tidepools of Thoughts

“Addie! Wake up! We landed on Aqua Star!”

Adeleine slowly opened her eyes, her body ached as she moved to sit up. She felt something slide off her stomach, clattering on the floor. Slowly, she looked down to the floor near her and saw her sketchbook had fallen off her, landing face-up on the ground. She picked it back up, looking over her half-finished sketch of the Rainbow Islands. An awkward, slightly darker pencil like showed where she stopped, most likely from falling asleep mid-sketch. She flipped her pencil around, erasing the line and cleaning up the area around the erased part. She glanced out the window just above the couch, able to see the vast ocean of Aqua Star. She slowly got up, setting her sketchbook aside. A searing pain flared through her body as she moved, causing her to wince. Her sunburns still hurt, more than they should. A short walk to the bathroom and a quick look in the mirror showed the extent of the damage. Her sunburns were a deep, vibrant red. They were still warm to the touch. She looked at the burns along her face, quietly grumbling about how stupid she was for sitting out in the sun like that. She pushed a stray piece of hair aside and walked back to the couch, grabbing her things as she followed Ribbon out of the ship. The moment she stepped through the door, the cool sea breeze hit her. She stood there, taking in every moment of it.

“I missed this planet.”

Ribbon floated close to her artist friend, keeping her wings tucked behind her as much as possible.

“While I missed it, too, I didn’t miss it as much as you did.”

She thought back to how Kirby decided to make their little ‘base’ in the middle of a tide pool, resulting in her getting her wings wet, forcing Kirby to carry her halfway through the following area.

“Well, can we both agree that it’s a lovely planet to be on?”

“Oh, absolutely! I just don’t want my wings to get wet.”

“Can do, Ribbon.”

Adeleine walked onto the sand, another gust of the sea breeze blowing past her. She felt Ribbon duck behind her, using her a shield from the breeze.

“Ribbon, it’s just a little bit of water. Your wings should be ok. Heck, I’m not soaking wet, nor are my clothes even remotely damp, so your wings should be a-ok!”

Slowly, Ribbon peeked out, feeling the front of Adeleine’s sleeve. She was right, the breeze wasn’t that bad. Cautiously, she fluttered out from behind her friend, taking great care to not bump any part of her that was sunburnt. Adeleine looked around, her gaze catching a tide pool.

“Hey, wanna go sit by that tide pool while we wait for the ship to refuel?”

Ribbon nodded, flying after Adeleine as she jogged over to the large tide pool. She placed her hands on the rocks, peering in. It was like a whole other world in there. Starfish clung to the rocks, tiny fish swam about in the shallow waters, algae was scattered along the bottom, leaving a green mat along the rocks. Adeleine sat down, carefully situating herself on a taller bunch of rocks. She had her sketchbook under her arm, setting it down in her lap and opening it up to a new page. She began sketching out the tide pool, adding little details to the rough sketch. Ribbon walked over, peering over Adeleines shoulder to see her sketch. She watched for a moment before something sparkly by the water caught her eye. She hopped down and ran over to the sparkly object, picking it up. It was a seashell, glittering and glistening. Her eyes lit up and she tucked it under her arm as another sparkly shell caught her eye. There was a whole trail of them, and she couldn’t resist taking them back with her. She dashed down the trail of sparkling shells, picking each one up as she ran. Adeleine looked up from her half finished sketch and realized Ribbon was nowhere to be found. She looked around, her gaze locking onto the pink haired fairy in the distance, at least 20 different shells piled up in her arms. She breathed a sigh of relief and slumped down onto the rocks, returning to her drawing. She couldn’t help but worry when her petite friend disappeared. Ribbon was tough, that was obvious, but her fighting ability was limited. She only had the Crystal Shard Gun and a couple bags of offensive fairy dust to protect her, and sometimes she bit off more than she could chew when it came to fighting. She was small, and while her size made her a harder target to hit, it also made her a lot less resilient to bigger enemies, a lot of which could be lurking in the shadows of the many rock faces surrounding the beach. She had an overwhelmingly powerful instinct to keep her little friend safe, even if she knew Ribbon could fend for herself if needed. She shook the thought from her mind and returned to drawing, glancing up as Ribbon became smaller in the distance.

~~~{+}~~~

_Shouldn’t Ribbon be back by now...?_

Adeleine looked up from her sketchbook, finding that Ribbon was nowhere to be found. She sat up, frantically looking around. She saw the tiny footprints leading into a small cave not far from her. She closed her sketchbook and set it aside, moving to push herself off the rocks. The moment her hand came down on the rock, it slipped, slicing open an old scar as she lost her balance, tumbling backwards into the tide pool. Red tinted the water and she held back a wince, the saltwater stinging her open wound. To make matters worse, she had her sleeves rolled up, and a swarm of tiny fish launched onto her exposed arms, their teeth sinking into her skin. She yelped and forced herself out of the pool as fast as she could, flailing her arm to try and shake some of the fish off. Ribbon must’ve heard her shout in pain, as she came flying back, at least 40 shells piled in her arms, all of which dropped onto the sand the moment she saw Adeleine. She reached into a small bag of fairy dust around her waist, throwing the handful of dust at Adeleines arms. In an instant, electricity sparked around the fish, paralyzing them. Blood trickled down Adeleines arms, staining her smock with each new wound the fish had made. Tears pricked at her eyes as she sucked in air through her teeth, trying to steel herself so she could start prying the fish off her body. Ribbon, who noticed how bad the injuries were getting, started grabbing ahold of the fish by the head, pulling their jaws off of Adeleines arms and throwing them with all her might back into the tide pool. Adeleine managed to grab onto a few, but couldn’t pry them off like Ribbon could, forcing her to essentially tear them off, only making the injuries worse. She went to put her hand down only to yelp in pain as her open wound made contact with the rocks. She had a frighteningly large amount blood pooling around her.

“Are there any more of those damn fish on you?”

Adeleine looked over at Ribbon, then down to her arms. Not a fish in sight.

“N-no... I don’t think so...”

Ribbon flew over to Adeleines injured hand, carefully lifting it up to look at it. Blood pooled in her palm, trickling down the sides of her hand and between her fingers when it filled up too much. Ribbon placed her hand over the cut, a thin layer of fairy dust covering her palm.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you were a bleeder.”

Ribbon commented, watching as the bleeding slowly came to a stop as the cut closed up. Adeleine quietly scoffed in response. The two sat in silence as Ribbon tended to Adeleines wounds. Adeleine stared at the still tinted tide pool, the tiny fish that sawed at her arms nibbling at any flesh that may have landed in the water. A few of the fish were floating belly up, most likely killed from Ribbon angrily chucking them back into the tide pool. The fairy finished cleaning her up, faint scars forming where the injuries had been. Adeleine traced a finger along the rings of teeth marks, holding back a wince from the combined pain of the bites and sunburns.

“Are you gonna be ok? I can get something for the pain and-“

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

The fairy went quiet, her expression falling as she watched Adeleine grab her sketchbook, pushing herself off the rock and slowly making her way back to the ship. She had her doubts about it being ready for takeoff, but she couldn’t stand sitting out by the sea anymore. While she refused to admit it, she was in more pain than she made visible. The burns hurt and itched, dead skin peeling off in little layers that, if she tried to help and speed up the process, just made her more miserable. Pain flared up with every step. Combined with the new bites lining her arms and the painful cut on her hand, she was pretty sure this trip couldn’t get any worse. Ribbon trailed behind, picking up the seashells she’d found and carefully flying behind Adeleine, keeping her distance. She’d seen Adeleine upset like this before and learned to just leave her be. If it got to a point where she broke down, Ribbon would be there in a split second, but she knew that wasn’t the case, at least not yet. She could tell that, just by the look on Adeleines face, she was reaching a breaking point. When that point would be reached was uncertain, but she made a mental note to keep a closer eye on her, just in case.

“Addie...?”

No response.

“Addie... I’m worried about you...”

The artist stopped, slightly turning her head.

“Don’t. I’ll be fine.”

There was a certain hint of anger in her words. The way she almost spat out “I’ll be fine” didn’t sit right with Ribbon. She turned her head back to the ship and strolled in, her shoes clacking against the floor with each step. She rounded a corner and vanished into the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind her. She leaned back against the door, sliding down to the floor and placing her head on her knees.

_I wanna go home..._

She wanted to cry, but no tears came out. Not a single sob could leave her body. She wanted to go back home and sleep in her bed. She wanted to go home and see the animal friends. She knew they’d be able to help her out. She closed her eyes, a vivid memory from her childhood resurfacing.

~~~{+}~~~

_The forest surrounding Cloudy Park was quiet that day. The breeze barely shook the trees, the birds didn’t sing, and the world seemed to be at peace with itself. Along one of the more secluded forest paths walked Ado and her daughter, Adeleine. It was a special day, at least, it was special for Adeleine. She was going to meet the animal friends! At least, that’s what Ado told her she was doing. Their walk had been long, and she was determined to make it the whole way without being carried! A big feat for someone as little as her. She was only 3, and she was shorter than most of the other kids she knew around town, not to mention being the only other human besides her mother, so keeping up with everyone was a challenge. This time, she was determined to best that challenge, and she was so close!_

_“Just a little bit farther, sweetie! They should be just up ahead.”_

_Adeleine did a little hop. She could barely contain her excitement! She’d heard talk of these animal friends before, and they were apparently really friendly! Questions spun through her mind: How big were they? Were they animal sized or person sized? Were they scary looking? Could they use powers like mommy? She snapped out of her thoughts when Ado gently tapped her on the shoulder._

_“Adeleine, we’re here.”_

_She looked up to her mother, then straight ahead of her, only to find 6 big animals staring right at her. While they weren’t intimidating, their size was enough to frighten her, causing her to rush behind her mother, clinging to her smock. Ado let out a small sigh, kneeling down to soothe her daughter._

_“Adeleine, it’s ok. They’re not going to hurt you! Those are the animal friends I told you about.”_

_Adeleine peeked out from behind her mother, staring at the animals. She cautiously stepped over towards them, reaching out a tiny hand. She leaned forwards, her little palm making contact with the belly of the hamster. It was soft, and he hadn’t attacked her! She looked up, her big violet eyes meeting his blue eyes. He smiled at her, his nose twitching._

_“Well, aren’t you just a little sweetheart! What’s your name?”_

_Adeleine blinked, letting out a quiet breath. She registered what he said, but couldn’t help herself from marveling in the fact that she was talking to a big, soft hamster! She blinked again, opening her mouth to speak, trying to find the words._

_“A...Adeleine...”_

_The hamster put a paw on her head, watching as she almost flinched under his touch. She was nervous, a clear sign to him, but he made sure to make himself as non-threatening as possible._

_“Well, g’day Adeleine! M’ name’s Rick! Pleasure t’ meet ya!”_

_Adeleine smiled, taking an awkward step forwards as she put her face into his fur, giggling._

_“Soft!”_

_Rick chuckled, gently ruffling Adeleines hair._

_“That I am, mate!”_

_Adeleine looked up, spotting a purple owl perched atop Ricks head. She reached up, her fingers barely brushing against the owls feathered body. The owl seemed to chuckle, lifting a wing to cover his beak._

_“Quite the curious child you’ve got, Ado.”_

_Adeleine tilted her head, hearing the muffled giggle of her mother._

_“She’s always been curious. She gets it from me, Coo.”_

_“Ooo?”_

_Adeleine attempted to repeat the name she heard, lacking the full ability to say it. While she had a handle on language, it wasn’t the one native to Popstar. She’d picked up on her mother’s native tongue: French. She’d only just recently started learning English, and could barely speak the language, resulting in her sounding more like a newly talking 2 year old and less like a 4 year old. Ado didn’t mind, she was happy to translate, but she was proud of her daughter for trying to learn the language on the fly._

_“Close! It’s Coo, little one.”_

_“Ooo!!!”_

_The owl chuckled at the determination in the little girls tone. She was a smart cookie, he could tell just by the look in her eyes._

_“Ado, you wouldn’t mind if I took her under my wing, would you?”_

_Ado shook her head, giving a warm smile._

_“Not at all! It’d help to have another teacher, considering I’m the only one at the moment.”_

_Coos eyes widened, almost taken aback by the statement._

_“Why didn’t you tell me sooner! I’d be happy to help!”_

_Rick looked up at the older artist, his eyes narrowing in thought._

_“Wait, Ado, y’ tellin’ me that you’ve been carin’ for y’ kid by yourself?!”_

_Ado didn’t seem to upset by the statement, almost like this was normal for her._

_“I mean, yeah? I’ve told you all that I fled home, right?”_

_Her tone shifted, her voice quieting down to almost a whisper._

_“The reason I managed to escape was because I purposefully tried to have a kid, since there’s a law protecting women who’re expecting...”_

_Rick tried to hide the change in his expressions. He’d known about Ado’s escape efforts ever since she landed in Cloudy Park. They were sad, to say the least. She’d been through a lot, and was now raising her daughter all on her own._

_“Yeah, you’ve told us. Had t’ flee without ‘im, right?”_

_She nodded, pushing her bangs off to the side._

_“More or less. He barely cared about me or Adeleine, so it’s not like it would’ve made much of a difference if he’d have come with.”_

_“Fish!”_

_Ado’s attention snapped to her daughter, who was pointing to Kine. The sunfish appeared quite nervous, watching as the girl waltzed right up to the edge of the creek he’d swam in to get here._

_“A-ah! Be careful! I-I-I don’t want you f-falling in!!”_

_Adeleine slowed down, kneeling down so she could see him eye to eye. She could feel Coo’s gaze on her back, ready to grab her if she happened to fall in. The creek wasn’t very deep, but the bottom was very rocky. One wrong step and she’d wind up facedown in the rocky shallows. She watched her footing, crawling over to the sunfish, a hand outstretched towards him. He swam forwards, pressing his fin against her palm. Her eyes widened and practically sparkled as she pet Kine’s fin._

_“It’s nice to meet you, Adeleine! I’m Kine!”_

_She giggled, patting the fin, feeling water splash under her palm._

_“Kai!! Kai!!”_

_Kine smiled, watching Adeleine stand up and scurry off to the next animal friend she spotted, which happened to be Pitch, who was sitting behind Rick. The little green bird jumped at the sight of Adeleine running towards him, scampering farther behind Rick, trembling. Adeleine stopped short, her head tilting to the side as she slowly walked over to him._

_“Ça va! Je ne te ferai pas de mal! Je m'appelle Adeleine! Quel est ton nom?”_

_Everyone except Ado seemed quite surprised to hear Adeleine speak so fluently. They all looked at Ado, who was beaming with pride._

_“Ado, would you mind translating for us?”_

_She nodded, giggling._

_“She said she won’t hurt you. She told you her name, and wants to know yours, Pitch.”_

_The little bird slowly peeked out and hopped forwards, puffing up a bit so he wasn’t as small._

_“M-my name’s Pitch! I-I may b-b-be small, b-but I’m just a-as tough as everyone else!”_

_He puffed up a little more, his feathers sticking out at odd angles. Adeleine smiled and carefully pet him, smoothing out his puffed up feathers. He stiffened up at the touch, but quickly relaxed when he realized Adeleine wasn’t a threat. She giggled as he shook his feathers out and nuzzled against her hand._

_“Pi!”_

_She tried to say his name, her vague understanding of the native language causing her to fail to say the whole name. Pitch didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he hopped up onto her shoulder the instant she said his name, settling down near the crook of her neck. She grinned from ear to ear and got up, turning her attention to a large pink... blob? What was that one, anyway? She didn’t look like an animal, but Adeleine hadn’t seen a lot of animals yet, so what did she know? She slowly approached the blob, waving towards it. The blob turned, the bright red bow on their head flopping as they moved, and their eyes widened._

_“Oh my goodness! You’re adorable!!!”_

_The blob ran? Scuttled? Somehow made its way over to Adeleine, pushing itself up to her level with its body, two blobby tentacles holding it up._

_“My name’s Chuchu, and you’re Adeleine, right?”_

_Adeleine nodded, a bit nervous over how close the blob had gotten._

_“Oh, you have no need to be afraid of me, or anyone here, for that matter!”_

_She smiled, overjoyed to meet someone as cute as Ado’s kid._

_“You are the cutest girl I’ve ever met!! Although you’re not very talkative, but that’s fine! I don’t really have a p-“_

_“Oh, back off, Chuchu! You’re gonna freak her out with how much you’re fawning over her!”_

_Chuchu snapped towards the voice, practically snarling at it._

_“Don’t snarl at me, you blobby octopus. You know you’re being a little invasive, so back off.”_

_Chuchu rolled her eyes, leaning in towards Adeleine, lowering her tone._

_“Don’t listen to him, he’s being a cranky jerk again.”_

_“I can hear you, and I’m not being a cranky jerk. She’s 4 and she’s shy. Give her a little bit of space.”_

_Adeleine leaned over towards the voice, only to see a large, rotund cat sitting on his rotund hind feet. She gasped, walking towards him, ignoring how offended Chuchu looked. She extended a hand, a soft paw making contact with her palm. She nearly squealed, barely able to contain how excited she was. She looked up at the cat, earning a mischievous smile._

_“Hello there. You’re awfully eager to be around me, huh.”_

_She let out a smaller gasp, putting her face right into his fluff. He chuckled, patting her head with his paw._

_“The name’s Nago, by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Adeleine.”_

_She looked up, determined to say his name right._

_“Nyago!!”_

_The cat was surprised, letting out a soft laugh as he nuzzled her head._

_“Hey, that was pretty close! Good job, kiddo!”_

_She let out a squeal as she felt Nago nuzzle against her. She head Ado chuckle, her shoes crunching the dirt as she walked._

_“How about we all go have a picnic a little farther in? I remember there being a really nice clearing just up ahead!”_

_A unanimous agreement. Adeleine was lifted onto Nago’s back as the group trekked deeper into the forest, happily chatting along the way..._

~~~{+}~~~

Adeleine snapped back to reality when she heard knocking on the door. She realized she’d been curled up on the bathroom floor for god knows how long. Ribbon was probably worried sick about her. She stilled her breathing, listening intently, able to hear the rhythmic pitter-patter of Ribbons wing-beats.

“Addie? Are you still in there?”

...

“Addie, I’m sorry...”

The rhythmic wing-beats stopped, shoes gently tapping onto the ground as the fairy stopped flying.

“Addie...”

...

“Addie, please...”

Her voice got quiet.

“Addie, I’m worried about you...”

...

“Addie... Please...”

She paused for a long moment, the silence thick around the two.

“The ship’s going to take off soon... I’ll be in the cockpit if you need me.”

The fairy flew off, leaving Adeleine alone again. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, a choked sob escaping her. She felt tears trickle down her cheeks, dripping onto the sleeves of her smock as she dropped her head onto her arms.

_I just wanna go home..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes set out for Neo Star, with Adeleine injured and broken down, and Ribbon worried sick about her. Only a little farther to go until they reach Ripple Star...
> 
> Until then, see you soon!


	4. Eclipsing Comatose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adeleine and Ribbon arrive on Neo Star! As the two explore, Adeleine suffers more injuries. How much more of this will she be able to take?!
> 
> (Contains details about injuries like 2nd degree burns, for those who might not want to read about that)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I RETURN!!
> 
> Hi again! I’ve returned to give you all another chapter! This one is probably one of the more angst chapters I’ll write for this fic, so be warned of that. Sorry it took so long to write! I had finals and a bunch of personal stuff happen one after another, so it took up a lot of my time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pump the next one out a little quicker.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy chapter 4!

Artful Adventurers: Return of Dark Matter, a Kirby 64 fic

Chapter 4: Eclipsing Comatose

The stars faded from the window as the ship entered the atmosphere of Neo Star. Adeleine, leaning over the back of the couch, her hair a tangled mess over her eyes, stared blankly as the sky slowly came into view. Her face was red, streaks of tears having stained her cheeks from crying. She looked at her nails, which were caked with gunk from the tidepool she fell into. She grumbled and began to dig out whatever crud was packed beneath her nails. She was exhausted from crying, but she wasn’t in any mood to sleep. Ribbon had insisted that she take a nap or something, but Adeleine couldn’t bring herself to do it. She watched the clouds haze above the ship as it touched down within the edge of a vast jungle. She recognized the scenery, it was the area just near where Kirby had trekked through in search of the Crystal Shards. She heard the rhythmic flapping of Ribbons wings enter her range of hearing, slightly tilting her head. She could see the pink fairy in her peripherals, refusing to speak. As much as she loved having Ribbon around—having a friend that was practically family was a huge help, considering Adeleines past—she hated making Ribbon deal with her emotions. She was old enough to handle herself, and growing up without a parent quickly taught her to reserve and conceal her emotions. It made her look weaker than she already was, and she hated that. She heard Ribbon fly closer, softly landing on the couch.

“Addie...?”

Adeleine tilted her head more, now able to see Ribbon clearly. Based on the sudden change in expression Ribbon gave, she gauged how bad her face must’ve looked to her. Her eyes were still puffy and red from crying, and she was sure Ribbon could see the tear stains that lined her cheeks. Her hair was a hot mess, somehow not a tangled rats nest yet, and her lips were disgustingly chapped. She was fairly sure her lip was split from being so chapped, but she couldn’t really tell.

“...Don’t worry about me.”

Her voice was hoarse, almost choked out. Her throat was dry from crying, making it hard to speak. She turned back to the window, letting out a quiet, shaky breath. She expected to hear Ribbon get down and leave, but was slightly surprised to see her stand her ground.

“Adeleine, look at me.”

That got her attention. Ribbon NEVER used her full name. She’d used it before, but only when she was dead serious about something. Slowly, Adeleine turned to face Ribbon, sniffling. The fairy made a small hop, barely fluttering up onto Adeleines leg. She looked her dead in the eyes before throwing herself into a hug, her face nestled into Adeleines shoulder.

“It’ll be ok. If you need to cry it out, go ahead. I’ll be here for you.”

Adeleine was taken aback by the gesture. She sat there for a brief moment before wrapping her arms around the fairy, curling up. She let out a shaky, hiccuped sigh, her head dropping as a few tears trickled down her cheeks. She choked back a sob, trying to keep together the fragile remains of her emotions. She felt Ribbon tighten her grip, a clear attempt at comfort. Ribbon felt Adeleine aggressively wipe away tears, letting out a huff. Ribbon slowly tilted her head up, gently placing a hand on Adeleines cheek, carefully wiping away a stray tear.

“Adeleine, c’mon... I know you need to cry. Just let it out already.”

Her tone was soft, soothing to Adeleines ears. The artist slowly shook her head, pulling Ribbon closer.

“Why?”

“Je ne veux pas mouiller tes ailes de mes larmes...”

She heard Ribbon let out a soft chuckle, her wings fluttering for a moment.

“Adeleine, a few little tears won’t drench my wings!”

Ribbon fluttered up a little higher, nestling her face into Adeleines neck, causing Adeleine to squeak and scrunch her shoulders up.

“N-non!! Tu sais que mon cou est sensible!”

Ribbon giggled and nuzzled Adeleines neck again, causing the artist to jolt and try to squirm away, a smile breaking onto her face.

“Ribbon! Arrêtez-le!!”

Another giggle from the fairy. She knew what she was doing, and it was working. Adeleine had a sensitive neck, and more than once had Ribbon used this knowledge to cheer her up. She continues to nestle herself into Adeleines neck, her wings happily fluttering as she pushed herself closer to her artist friend.

“Arrêtez!! Ça chatouille- EEP!!!”

Adeleine broke into giggles, trying to squirm away from the fairy. Ribbon only moved closer, her expression mischievous.

“R-Ribbon! S'il vous plaît- EEK!!! Je cède! Pas plus!”

The artist quickly turned into a laughing mess, toppling over on the couch and curling up in an attempt to protect her neck from the playful onslaught. Ribbon let up, letting the artist breathe.

“There’s the smile I was looking for!”

Ribbon gently pushed off of Adeleine, the biggest grin on her face. Adeleine pushed stray hair out of her face, rubbing the side of her neck to try and get the tingling sensation left by the onslaught to go away. She let out a halfhearted chuckle, pushing herself upright.

“Thanks, Ribbon.”

“You feeling any better?”

“Somewhat. I’ll be ok, just a little sore.”

She smiled, not as bright as before, but it wasn’t faked. Ribbon circled around her, fluttering to her side as she stood up.

“Are you sure? We can stay here if you’re not up for it.”

Adeleine shook her head, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

“I told you, I’ll be fine. I can handle another little expedition.”

Ribbon seemed reluctant, noticing how sore Adeleine seemed to be. The artist had stifled a wince when the strap of her bag slammed onto her shoulder and the bag itself whacked her back, clearly striking the sunburn. If Ribbon looked close enough, she could see the bite marks from the fish peeking out from the artists sleeves. The cut from her slip up by the tidepool was also all too pronounced on her palm. Before she could even try to reason with her, Adeleine was already out the door. She flew after her, taking the lead.

~~~{+}~~~

Adeleine fell behind quickly, her legs aching. She wasn’t quite sure why, but they hurt. She followed Ribbon over the muddy jungle floor. Not too far ahead was a suspiciously clear area of the path. She could see brightly colored flowers dotting the surrounding grasses, oddly large stems of other plants tucked near them. Ribbon seemed relatively oblivious to how strange it looked, too engrossed in her little quest to find the brightest flowers in the jungle. Adeleine picked up her pace, despite her body screaming at her to stop. Ribbon fluttered closer to the center of the cleared path, a particularly bright flower catching her attention. Something moved in the grasses, the stems slowly shifting to move higher up. The trees shook in the breeze, odd spots shaking out of rhythm. In a sudden burst of adrenaline, Adeleine shot forward, slamming into Ribbon, sending her toppling out of the cleared section. The moment Adeleine collided with her, the plants hiding in the dense jungle sprung up, a cloud of spores and pollen rapidly filling the cleared pathway. Within seconds, Adeleine had fallen to the ground, coughing as pollen and spores flooded her lungs. When Ribbons tumble came to a halt, she sat up, flapping her wings rapidly to shake any mud or debris off of them. She quickly noticed Adeleine, just barely visible on the muddy ground, surrounded by the huge cloud of pollen and spores. She shot to her feet, not even bothering to shake any mud out of her hair or clothes, and flew towards the cloud. She stopped a few feet from it to stop herself from breathing any of it in, and reached to her back, grabbing the Crystal Shard Gun the queen had tasked her with taking care of. She gripped the handle, took aim, and fired into the cloud, striking one of the plants and slicing it in two from the blast. The other plants seemed to get the message and quickly vanished into the undergrowth, the cloud clearing.

Adeleine barely registered the ordeal, too focused on trying to breathe through the seemingly never ending fit of coughing she was in. She felt sick, her stomach turning and twisting into a knot, nausea stabbing her gut. Her vision blurred and she shut her eyes to slow the rapidly growing headache she had. Worst of all, her lungs burned. It felt like she was breathing in fire, causing more coughing. As the thick cloud of pollen and spores surrounding her dissipating. Slowly, she was able to breathe without her lungs screaming for mercy. She opened her eyes, only to spot Ribbon flying in front of her, but she didn’t look... right. Her body wavered in Adeleines vision, her voice garbled and warped, but only for a moment. When she blinked, it was normal again.

“-you answer me?!”

Adeleine snapped to reality, wincing as her headache pulsed with malicious intent.

“I-I’m sorry, can you... repeat what you said...? I... I didn’t quite catch... all of it...”

Ribbon landed, her wings tucking behind her.

“I asked if you were ok! You didn’t respond and I got scared!”

Adeleine sluggishly pushed herself upright, letting out a hoarse cough, her lungs burning from the cloud of pollen and spores. She stifled a dry heave, her body rejecting any remains of the heavy cloud that had hung over her.

“I... ugh... I’ll be ok... just-“

She held back another dry heave, somewhat failing as her body shivered and convulsed, thankfully having nothing come up.

“-sick...”

As she attempted to stand up, her head pulsed, sending her reeling back into the mud. Carefully, she tried once more, managing to stumble to her feet.

“Addie, I think we should take you back to the ship. You’re looking worse by the minute.”

Adeleine promptly shook her head, immediately regretting the decision.

“I’ll be fine...”

Ribbon lifted off the ground, gently tugging on Adeleines sleeve.

“But you won’t. I don’t know what those spores did to you, but it wasn’t good. Let’s go.”

She could hear the authority in the fairy’s voice, but her body forced her to start walking away from the clearing.

“Addie, _let’s go_.”

Adeleine didn’t respond, continuing to walk away.

“Adeleine.”

Ribbons voice struck something in Adeleines mind, causing her to freeze in place. She slowly looked back towards Ribbon, her vision starting to blur. The fairy fluttered over, extending a hand.

“Look, if you’re going to keep walking, then you’re walking behind me. I’m not letting you get hurt again.”

Adeleine slowly took ahold of the fairy’s hand, turning back around and allowing herself to be led along.

“If you need to take a break, tell me immediately, ok? I’m willing to slow down and stop for you.”

Adeleine sluggishly nodded in response, her head pulsing in pain as her vision turned into a mix of blinding colors, slowly fading back to normal. They kept a slow pace, which allowed Adeleines mind to wander. Something dark crept its way to the surface of her consciousness, slowly engulfing her thoughts until it was all she could think about...

~~~{+}~~~

_The clouds were frighteningly thick and heavy, like the sky was threatening to storm. Adeleine glanced over at her mother, who stood in front of a massive easel, strategically painting a cake._

_“Maman, Kracko est-il en colère? Va-t-il faire une grosse tempête?”_

_Ado frowned, landing on the ground in front of her easel._

_“No, Kracko doesn’t make these clouds. I don’t think these are natural clouds either...”_

_She looked up at the sky, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at the dark, swirling clouds. It wasn’t normal. Something about it scared her, but she couldn’t let Adeleine see that. She swore she could see something look back at her from those clouds, some kind of piercing, vile gaze. She looked back towards Adeleine, gesturing to her bags._

_“Start packing up. I don’t like how those clouds look. Whatever’s coming, it’s not natural, nor is it safe.”_

_Adeleine immediately got up, grabbing the small bag she brought with her. She began packing up her crayons and pencils, sketchbook and erasers, her favorite plushie and a small blanket. Ado kept a careful eye on her, but kept her gaze focused towards the sky. It was only when she saw something move in the clouds that panic began to rise in her chest. A red eye pierced through the dark, overcast sky, staring straight through Ado. She froze up, the eye narrowing in mischievous joy. The gaze of the eye shifted from Ado to her daughter, and a violent instinct frothed up. In an instant, darkness flew towards Adeleine, but before it could reach her, Ado threw herself in the way, shoving Adeleine aside as darkness engulfed her body. She let out a cry of pain as something flooded her body, entering through whatever open area it could find. She fell to her knees, her head pounding in pain as something overtook her mind. She glanced over at Adeleine, who was starting to process the severity of the situation, her vision starting to blur._

_Adeleine yelped as she was shoved aside, pain flaring up in her leg as it caught on the rocks around her. Nothing was bleeding, but a bruise was sure to appear. She rubbed the injury as she sat up, looking over at her mother, her expression quickly changing from confusion to fear. Ado had fallen to her knees, a black liquid spilling out of her mouth and nose, her naturally brown eyes shifting to a bright red. She was fighting something, something on the inside. Ado’s gaze snapped towards Adeleine, her mouth twisting into a malicious grin._

_“A-Adeleine... R...Run...”_

_Her voice was strained, something else hiding behind it, like an echo of sorts. The internal battle became more apparent, as it was clear Ado was losing. Her body staggered, a failed attempt at getting to her feet. That malicious grin faltered, a look of worry and unease replacing it, but only for a moment._

_“P-please... While I-I’m s... s-still in c-c-control...”_

_Adeleine started backing away, holding onto her bag with shaking hands._

_“A-Adeleine...”_

_Ado staggered again, a black haze surrounding her as whatever she was fighting slowly took control._

_“RUN!”_

_Ado screamed, her fingernails digging into the earth. Adeleine shot to her feet and bolted in the opposite direction, tears burning her eyes as she ran. She hesitantly looked back, seeing her mother stumble to her feet, looking around for where Adeleine had gone, her eyes red and her smile crooked. Her movements weren’t natural, like she was possessed. Adeleine turned her attention back to the road ahead of her and sprinted away, whimpering as tears streaked down her cheeks. She stumbled, tripping and tumbling to the ground, landing facefirst on the cold rocky ground. She sat up and burst into tears, wailing. Blood trickled down her face and onto her smock. A bloody nose, of course, a common occurrence for her, considering how fragile she was. She wailed louder, coughing every so often. Footsteps pitter-pattered behind her, causing her to flinch up, her sobs abruptly stopping. She shakily turned to see what was nearby. She didn’t recognize where she was, and was quite frankly amazed how far she’d ran. Footsteps continued to come closer, until something peeked out from the surrounding rocks. It was a hamster, but it wasn’t hamster-sized. It was big, bigger than her, and sported pink spots and a bright pink bow atop her head. She cautiously stayed by the rocks, merely waiting until Adeleine had calmed down enough to approach._

_“Hello, little one! What are you doing all the way out here?”_

_Adeleine whimpered in response, shuffling backwards._

_“Please don’t be afraid! I won’t hurt you!”_

_The hamsters nose twitched, one of her ears flicking as if she was listening for something._

_“I noticed something come crashing down from the sky and not a moment later I saw you come running down here! Are you ok?”_

_Adeleine shook her head. She was fairly sure that trying to talk to this hamster wouldn’t help her all that much. Her mom was the only one who spoke the same language as her, and Adeleine herself barely spoke any English, so talking would most likely result into more confusion than assistance._

_“How come you came running down here? Were you with that lady with the big easel?”_

_She slowly nodded, sniffling._

_“Oh honey, I’m sorry. I’m fairly certain what I saw was Dark Matter. I’m going to assume that lady was your mom, which means she got possessed...”_

_The hamster trailed off, their ears twitching intently._

_“Tell you what, let’s get you somewhere a little safer, and I’ll try to explain what’ll happens, ok?”_

_Adeleine whimpered, holding back another round of tears. The hamster opened their arms to her, and in moments she ran into their fluff, the dam holding back her emotions shattering. She broke into sobs again, wailing as she was gently lifted up and carried away from the rocky outcrop._

_~~~{+}~~~_

_The two arrived in a grassy section of the outcrop, ducking behind a cluster of bushes. The hamster set Adeleine down, but didn’t release her entirely. They could tell she was shattered over this, and she was so young, too. Slowly, they eased themselves onto the ground, letting Adeleine nestle her face against their fluff._

_“I should introduce myself to you before I explain all this.”_

_They looked down at Adeleine, smiling._

_“My name is Pick! Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier.”_

_Adeleine didn’t seem to mind, as she merely nuzzled her face deeper into Picks fluff._

_“Now, I’ll tell you now: your mom should be just fine. She won’t be possessed for long, and she’ll be back to her usual self before you know it!”_

_Her tone was peppy, but there was a hint of worry hidden beneath the upbeat tone of her voice. She looked over to the other side of the bushes, watching as 2 blobs ran past in the distance, one a pastel pink with red feet, the other a deep blue with their tongue hanging out. Adeleine didn’t see them, too focused on crying._

_“It’ll be alright, little one. Help is on the way. I’ll stay with you until everything gets better, ok?”_

_She slowly nodded, her sobs muffled as she buried her face into Picks fluff again, the hamsters voice faint as she tried to soothe her..._

~~~{+}~~~

Adeleine hadn’t realized they’d stopped. She also hadn’t noticed that she’d been sitting on the rocky ground for god knows how long. She rubbed her eyes, her head pounding with a migraine-level pain. Everything hurt, and her chest felt tight. She wanted to throw up, her stomach doing flips. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat and looked to her feet, her bag pinned between her knees. Slowly, she picked it up, swinging it so the bag itself sat over her chest. She went to stand, but quickly noticed that Ribbon was nowhere to be found. Her blurry gaze wandered her surroundings, slowly locking onto a red and pink blob not far from her.

_That’s gotta be Ribbon..._

The blob turned and Adeleine was able to see that, thankfully, it was, in fact, Ribbon. She was searching for gemstones among the rocks, oblivious to Adeleine finally being awake. The fairy flitted over to a small crack in the rock, peering into it. Adeleine watched lazily, her head still violently pushing with pain. Something felt off, though. Something in the air was too heavy.

_Maybe it’s just me, but it’s hard to breathe all of a sudden..._

She looked around, the sky seemingly hazier than usual. She was fairly sure she wasn’t hallucinating, but it wasn’t natural. It was dark, a sinister gray. She narrowed her eyes, confused. Suddenly, the ground shook with enough force to knock her off balance, despite being seated. She tumbled backwards, barely catching herself as she landed on the cold rocky ground. She shot upright, adrenaline blazing through her vanes. Just as she thought it was over, a deafening boom echoed through the air with enough force to nearly knock Adeleine off balance again. Her ears were ringing when she finally figured out what had happened; a volcano had erupted. Fight or flight kicked in and she began to run. Her body moved without hesitation, making a breakneck sprint towards Ribbon. She barely noticed the embers spewing around her, her mind only focused on getting herself and Ribbon as far away as possible. Ribbon slowly turned, realizing the severity of the situation, only to be yanked out of the way of an approaching chunk of lava. The fairy yelped, suddenly being pressed against Adeleines chest as the artist ran as fast as she could. Embers fell from the sky at speeds too fast to dodge. In mere moments, Adeleines back was scorched, the back of her smock smoldering. She let out a choked cry of pain, ducking into the jungle. Branches smacked against her, thankfully none hitting Ribbon, as she ran through the undergrowth. A faint protest from Ribbon reached her ears, but it didn’t do much to slow her down. She could see the ship, and just that sight alone gave her the strength to run a little bit faster. She stumbled, pain threatening to increase, and ran into the ship. Almost on cue, the engines flared up and the ship rumbled, preparing to take off. She could feel Ribbon thrashing in her grip, but she didn’t dare let go. Not until they were safely off of Neo Star.

“Adeleine, let go!!”

No response. Adeleine just stood there, watching as the ship lifted off and began flying away from Neo Star.

“Adeleine!”

Still no response. She started backing away from the cockpit, adrenaline beginning to die down. She stumbled and fell back, releasing Ribbon in the process, and let out a sharp cry of pain. For a moment, she just laid there, frighteningly still. Ribbon fluttered down, checking her to make sure she didn’t faint or knock herself unconscious with the fall.

“Adeleine?!”

Slowly, the artist sat up, regretting the decision to move. Her back  burned . It was more pain than she’d ever felt before. She failed to hold back tears, somehow barely able to hold back fully crying. Ribbon could somewhat see the injury, mostly the smoldering smock. She carefully fluttered behind Adeleine and promptly covered her mouth in shock. Covering her entire back were 2nd degree burns, dangerously close to 3rd degree. Her skin was charred and oozing in some spots, cauterized around the outer parts of the wound. She barely got a view of it before Adeleine tried to get up and move.

“Don’t worry about it, Ribbon.”

Her tone was flat, a hint of saddened pain lurking in it. She could take it! She’d taken injuries like this and walked them off! Her mindset made her fail to notice the frightening change in expression on Ribbons face.

“No.”

“What do you mean _no_?”

Ribbons eyes narrowed at the retort.

“No. You’re not going to just get up and walk this one off.”

Adeleine let out an annoyed huff, pushing her matted hair out of her face.

“And who’s going to stop me? It’s a couple of nasty burns, so what? I’ve taken worse.”

She was only half lying. She had taken worse injuries, specifically involving taking down Dark Matter, but the burns weren’t just nasty. They were formed by embers and tiny droplets of lava hitting her back. She knew she should let Ribbon heal them, but she couldn’t stand the thought of having to show weakness like that.

“I’m going to stop you. This isn’t some injury you can walk off. Those are second degree burns, and if they aren’t healed up fast, they’ll scar and leave you in a worse state than you’re in now.”

Adeleine felt a knot tighten in her gut.

“You’re not going to stop me. I’ll be fine.”

Ribbons hands balled into fists, nails digging into her palms.

“Why are you fighting me on this?! I’m trying to help you!”

“I don’t NEED help!”

“Yes you do!”

“No I DON’T!”

“Why won’t you just let me help you?!”

“BECAUSE I’M OLD ENOUGH TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! I DON’T NEED SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ME TO TRY AND TAKE CARE OF ME!”

That shut Ribbon up. Adeleine looked like she was going to cry, her nails digging into her palms with enough force to draw blood.

“All my damn life I’ve been taken care of by people who don’t fucking care about me! For crying out loud, the only person who genuinely cared about me was my mom, and she’s been dead since I was 4!”

Her voice cracked, tears rolling down her cheeks. The painful memory resurfaced, pulling more emotions up with it.

“Sometimes I feel like the only reason you’ve stuck around for this damn long is because you pity the fact that I’m a pathetic bitch who would be dead without someone to take care of me!”

She dug her nails in harder, pain burning in her palms as blood started to trickle off her knuckles.

“At this point, I’d rather be DEAD THAN HAVE SOMEONE KEEP KE ALIVE OUT OF FUCKING PITY!”

She screamed the words out, the act of which burned her throat. She panted, out of breath, averting eye contact as best she could. Ribbon stared at her in horrified shock. There was an uncomfortable silence between the two, only disrupted by Adeleines uneven breathing and occasional hiccups.

“How... how could you say something like that? ...About yourself...”

She paused.

“...About me...”

She paused again, watching Adeleines unchanging expression of anger.

“...You don’t mean any of that...”

Another pause, carefully clasping her hands together.

“...I know you don’t...”

She watched Adeleine grit her teeth in anger, but she was faltering. Her expression wasn’t as fierce as it was a few moments ago.

“...Adeleine, listen to me, please.”

She cautiously fluttered closer, her hands tucked close to her chest.

“I’d never  _ever_ take care of you out of pity. Not once in my life have I ever done that to you. You’re like a sister to me, and I hate seeing you get hurt. You’re not pathetic, you’re fragile. All humans are, from what you’ve told me, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It just means that you have to be careful.”

She let out a small breath, noticing the slight change in Adeleines expression.

“You’ve told me everything you’ve been through, and I feel horrible whenever something hurts you. It’s why I’m so protective of you sometimes... You don’t deserve all this garbage, and if I can stop you from getting hurt, I’m going to. If I can’t, I want to be there for you to help you heal.”

That seemed to get to her, as Adeleine loosened up. Her fists were still clenched tighter than they should be, but her expression was no longer fierce. Instead, she looked heartbroken.

“You’ve got more than just me, though. Queen Ripple, Kirby, King Dedede, and all the fairies of Ripple Star care about you!! I know you don’t think that way, but it’s true!”

Adeleines expression changed again, not a hint of anger remained.

“Please, I only wanna help you. You’re family to me, and I can’t bear to see you sad like this.”

Adeleine stared at her, blood still trickling from her knuckles. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor, pushing her fists against the ground, only worsening her injuries. Ribbon quickly fluttered down and gently lifted her hands.

“Adeleine, stop, you’re hurting yourself.”

Her tone was stern, but calm. She sounded more worried than angry. Gently, she pried Adeleines fingers away from her palms, blood still trickling down her hands. Ribbon motioned for Adeleine to stay put and fluttered over to a cabinet, grabbing bandaging and towels for Adeleines hands, along with creams and ointments to help with the burns. She flew back over and landed in front of Adeleine, taking ahold of one of her hands and cleaning it up. She wrapped her hand with bandaging after making sure she’d treated the wounds, moved to the other hand and did the same, and then moved to take care of the burns. She hesitantly touched one of the raw sections and was immediately met with Adeleine yelping in pain. She pulled her hand away, regretting the decision.

“Good lord, it’s bad... and it’s way hotter than it should be...”

She paused for a moment, then reached into one of the pouches around her waist and pulled out a handful of aquamarine colored fairy dust. She let some fall into her free hand and gently sprinkled it onto the wound. In an instant, the dust turned into little droplets of water, combining together to make one big drop that stayed completely still on Adeleines back. She didn’t seem to be hurt by it, so Ribbon put a little more fairy dust on the wound, watching it turn into another drop.

“This should help cool the burn down, and also clean it off a little.”

She dumped the last of the dust in her hand on the wound, now forming a huge bubble of water that covered the entire wound. It was cold, and somewhat uncomfortable, but Adeleine didn’t have the guts to complain.

~~~{+}~~~

“Ok, just one more wrap and I think you’ll be good!”

Ribbon carefully wrapped another cloth bandage around the wound, sticking it in place so it wouldn’t unravel.

“There! All set!”

She flew around to face Adeleine, giving her a smile. Almost immediately, Adeleine pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry...”

Her voice was hoarse, barely audible, and there was a clear sadness laced in her tone.

“Hey, Addie, don’t apologize for that. You’ve been through a lot on this trip. To an extent, that outburst was warranted.”

She pulled herself closer, resting her chin on the artists shoulder.

“You’ve been through a LOT. I understand the fact that you’ve probably been bottling up a lot of things, and this whole ordeal was just the tipping point for you.”

Adeleine hugged Ribbon a little tighter, a sense of security washing over her. She’d always felt safer and more secure when embraced like this. She realized how tired she was, exhaustion having come in full force. Slowly, she got up, wincing as pain kicked up in her back. While the wounds had been tended to, as well as hit with a multitude of painkillers, she was still mildly pained by movement. She began walking to her room, a few of the plants that lived on the ship reacting to her moving past. Ribbon slipped out of her grip and gave each one a pat, as if telling them to not worry and leave them be. Adeleine rounded a corner and walked into her room, looking up at the clock.

“Dark mode’ll start in 15 minutes or so.”

“Oh geez, already? Man, we’ve been at this for less time than I thought!”

Adeleine nodded. Dark mode was the ships natural shutdown when nighttime on Popstar came. Since regular trips often took over a day, and space didn’t time to base a sleep schedule off of, the ship naturally changed the environment inside to resemble night. It helped keep some normalcy in the dead of space.

“Do you want me to stick with you for the night?”

Adeleine shook her head.

“N-no... I-I mean- you can if you want! But you don’t have to!”

She couldn’t bring herself to tell Ribbon that she most likely couldn’t sleep on her back for the night, meaning Ribbon couldn’t sleep on top of her. While she could sleep sideways, there was the risk of pinning one or both of her wings and causing damage to them. Ribbon usually slept on her torso while Adeleine slept on her back, and the combo made it a little easier to share a bed without risk of hurting Ribbon. It wasn’t a necessity, but it did make it a little easier to sleep at night knowing her fairy friend was safe.

“If you’re sure, then I’ll leave you be. I’m just across the hall, though, so if you need anything tonight, don’t hesitate to wake me up! I’m happy to help!”

She gave a smile, giving Adeleine a hug.

“Thanks, Ribbon, and I’ll keep it in mind.”

She returned the gesture and waved as Ribbon fluttered out of the room. Adeleine turned to her bed, pulled the sheets back, and climbed in, staring out the little window near her bed. The stars sparkled in the low light, twinkling like tiny gemstones. She closed her eyes, tucking the covers around herself.

_This’ll all be over soon... I just know it..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Adeleine, how much more of this will she be able to take? (Spoiler: it’s a lot more than you’d think)
> 
> Our heroes set out for Shiver Star, the last planet they’ll need to make a fuel stop on before they reach Ripple Star...

**Author's Note:**

> I know it’s a bit on the short side, but it’s progress!!! They’re off to save Ripple Star!!
> 
> Also, here’s a few details for future reference (I may touch on these later in the fic, but I’ll put them here for now so people will have reference!)
> 
> —Adeleine is 5’3” and Ribbon is 1’8”. Yes I’m neglecting the fact that Kirby’s canonical height is 8 inches. He’s roughly the same height as Ribbon in this fic, if not a bit shorter.  
> —Both girls are 16 at the time of this fic, with Adeleine being older by a few months.  
> —Ado is Adeleines mother. I know the fandom typically says these two are the same, but for this fic, they are not.  
> —This takes place at least a year after the events of Planet Robobot.  
> —Adeleine does make money through commissions for her artwork, if anyone was wondering.  
> —Adeleine speaks French. It’s her native language, and it will be used in this fic quite a bit.  
> —Ribbon is still in possession of the Crystal Shards Gun and has a small piece of the crystal from Ripple Star.  
> —They have a spaceship gifted to them by the queen. It’s named the Bismuth Stargazer.  
> —Said ship has the ability to speak, but it’s not sentient.  
> —They have living plants in their house and on their ship that Ribbon took from Ripple Star. These plants can and will interact with the girls during the fic.
> 
> Hopefully that clears a few things up (in this chapter and upcoming ones)!
> 
> I’ll see you in the next chapter!


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